Location: | Eastern Europe, east of Poland |
| Geographic coordinates: | 53 00 N, 28 00 E |
| Map references: | Europe |
| Area: | total: 207,600 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km |
| Area - comparative: | slightly smaller than Kansas |
| Land boundaries: | total: 2,900 km
border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km |
| Coastline: | 0 km (landlocked) |
| Maritime claims: | none (landlocked) |
| Climate: | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime |
| Terrain: | generally flat and contains much marshland |
| Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
| Natural resources: | forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay |
| Land use: | arable land: 29.55%
permanent crops: 0.6%
other: 69.85% (2001) |
| Irrigated land: | 1,150 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Natural hazards: | NA |
| Environment - current issues: | soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine |
| Environment - international agreements: | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
| Geography - note: | landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes; the country is geologically well endowed with extensive deposits of granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay
Source: CIA World Factbook
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